The breath is a powerful tool inducing greater relaxation and wellbeing, and healthy breathing affects our long-term health and how well we age. The breath is also one of the subtlest and most effective gateways to connecting to Spirit or the sacred essence of who we are. Of course today, the specter of COVID-19 in all of our lives makes strengthening the breath more important than ever.
Not surprisingly, much is made of the breath in yoga practice. We’re taught how to breathe and when to breathe, and even something of why it’s important, whether for calming the mind or for taking us deeper into a pose.
But there’s far more to it than that. The breath can bring a genuine and lasting sense of peace. However, trying to manipulate the breath into certain pattern or rhythms of a pranayama practice can also strain the mind and lead to discomfort.
Breathing seems simple—you breathe in and you breathe out. But there are patterns to our breathing that are of our own creation, and these patterns are often artificial strategies for dealing with events in our lives. Many people coming to yoga classes have limited, or even unhealthy breathing patterns, and need basic breath training before moving on to more advanced yogic breathing practices.
In this online course, yoga therapist Doug Keller explores the basics of healthy breathing and best practices for helping students develop more healthy breathing patterns and deepen the breath in a natural, non-forced way.
What You Will Learn
- Anatomy of healthy breathing and why diaphragmatic breathing is a lot more than just ‘belly breathing.’
- The most common patterns of unhealthy breathing and how to observe these in students
- Why ‘control of breath’ is a misleading translation of the word ‘pranayama’ and why efforting and control will never lead to the desired shift in breathing patterns
- How to bypass the emotional holdings that are often part of restricted breathing patterns and help students free the breath in a natural way
- Simple introductory pranayama practices that also induces natural, healthy breathing
- Practices for developing greater awareness of the breath and tuning in to the inner feeling of the breath
- How to learn to tune in to and participate in the natural flow of prana in the body.
This Course Also Includes:
- Pranayama Practice: Enjoy audio practices with Doug, which begins with the simple practice of the full yogic breath and Ujjayi breath, and then guides the listener through variations on Viloma pranayama. Viloma is practiced while reclining: it expands your capacity for the breath, and is an effective technique for relaxation.
- Recordings of All Webinar Sessions: It’s generally acknowledged that many people only retain 10-20 percent of what they learn in a workshop. You will get access to the recordings of both webinar sessions – both MP3 (downloadable) and MP4 (streaming), enabling you to go back and listen to the workshop as many times as you like.
- Transcripts of Both Sessions: Ever wanted to refer to a certain part of a course? Even the best note takers miss a point every so often. With the transcripts of the sessions, you can go back and refer to particularly important passages or clarify sections you were in doubt about.
This course qualifies for 3 CEs with Yoga Alliance.
